Sigma Designs, the integrated circuit manufacturer that owns Z-Wave smart-home technology, announced that it has released the interoperability layer of its Z-Wave technology to the public domain. Sigma Designs is also releasing the specifications for the APIs that internet gateways use to communicate with Z-Wave devices in the home: Z-Wave over Internet Protocol and Z-Wave middleware. The company is also releasing the full specification for its Z-Wave S2 security framework. This public release of the interoperability layer marks the next major step towards further democratizing smart home standards for the IoT.